Night-Prowls in the Streets 







T^\ARKNESS is kind : it covers so much 

 JUr that is ugly. In the country it ob- 

 literates beauty ; but in the city, where 

 beauty must be shared on even terms, 

 at least, with harshness, we may well be 

 thankful for it. Night in the street is full 

 of suggestion, there is play for fancy in 

 dim vistas and half-seen objects, whereas 

 fancy retreats, appalled, before the porten- 

 tous spectacle that unfolds in the slums 

 and the platitudinous avenues and houses 

 of the well-to-do. At night a city is ro- 

 mantic and poetic. Its practical side dis- 

 appears with the sun, and under the celes- 

 tial and electric stars it is gay, emotional, 

 fantastic. It is almost laughable, this 

 mockery on their real selves that stony 

 streets and stony men take on in gaslight. 

 Perhaps cities are like their populace in 

 this : that they are always right senti- 

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